Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a former law student of President Lincoln, is killed in Alexandria, Virginia

05/24/1861

New York-born Elmer E. Ellsworth had worked with Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois and during the election campaign. When war came, he returned to New York and helped raise his regiment , the 11th New York, the "Fire Zouaves," from the city's firemen. In the morning, he led a patrol into Alexandria, Virginia where a large Confederate flag was flying from a hotel. The 5 ' 6" colonel retreived the flag but was shot dead by the hotel's proprietor, James W. Jackson, who then was killed by Private Francis Brownell. Lincoln wept on hearing the news. (By John Osborne)

Source Citation:

Chronicles of the Great Rebellion Against the United States of America (Philadelphia, PA: A. Winch, 1867), 8.